Help Us Fight Against Childhood Cancer: Join our Million Mile March CCR Team

By: Erica Stein, CCR Training Coach

Though described as “rare” childhood cancer is anything but that. In fact, cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among children and adolescents in the United States. Each day, 47 children are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. (more than 17,000 each year) and yet we never think it will happen to us.

Cancer was the furthest thing from our minds when our then 9-year-old daughter Ariella presented with leg pain. We thought it was a dance injury. Instead, it was Ewing’s Sarcoma, a type of bone cancer. After over 2 years of fighting, Ariella died due to complications from her treatment. Less than 4% of federal funds for cancer research are allotted to all types of childhood cancer, combined. Childhood cancers are treated with outdated, toxic treatments, which are not always curative and often lead to lifelong complications, secondary cancers, and death. 

How can you help? September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Charm City Run is proud to help kids fight cancer by supporting two foundations; Alex’s Lemonade Stand, which is committed to funding promising research into all types of childhood cancers, and Ari’s Bears (started by Ariella) which delivers stuffed animals to children in hospitals and also has awarded $170,000 in research grants to four separate projects.

We invite all of our community to join Charm City Run in the fight against Childhood Cancer by joining our Million Mile March Team to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand (our raised funds will be earmarked for Ewing’s Sarcoma research). Anyone can join in this challenge by logging miles through walking, running, or cycling. Get out there with friends and family to log miles, raise awareness, bring in donations and fund breakthrough research. At the end of the month, the evening of Friday, September 27, we will celebrate our earned miles with a happy hour/bear stuffing event for Ari’s Bears at Charm City Run Timonium.